Statue of St. Peter

St. Peter with his keys to the kingdom. Pope Pius IX decided to replace older statues of Sts. Peter and Paul with these larger ones on Easter 1847. The new statues were commissioned by the previous pope from Giuseppe De Fabris (sculpted them 1838-40) for St. Paul Outside the Walls. The statue of St. Peter is 5.55m in height and stands on a pedestal 4.91m high.